Pate a You!

These weeks move so quickly I feel I can hardly take a breath between weeks. Well to finish off the first week of custards we made Paris Brest and Gateau St. Honore. Both are made with pate a choux paste.
The Paris Brest is made with pate a choux paste piped into rings (like a doughnut) and sprinkled with sliced almonds, then baked. They are cut in half and then we piped praline pastry cream in the center. The tops are decorated with a thin striping of dark chocolate and dusted with powdered sugar.
The St. Honore is a little more complicated. Ok, a lot more dificult. First you need a blind baked base of pate brisee with rings of pate a choux paste piped on top. We also baked off pate a choux paste in rounds or puffs. The puffs are filled with chocolate and vanilla diplomat cream (pastry cream and whipped cream.) Then we made caramel (sugar cooked to 320 degrees) and dip the tops of the puffs in the hot caramel. (carefully!) Then the bottoms are dipped in caramel and attached to around the edge of the pate brisee base. The center is filled with a decorative "V" pattern piped with the contrasting diplomat creams. The whole thing is topped with spun sugar. Did I mention this was a challenge to make?!